20. Emotion

The talented singer and instrumentalist, Eva Cassidy, left this world at the young age of thirty-three. Her influence, though quiet, was profound, and her voice and musical selections continue to inspire the emotions of love and peace. Joel Siegel said these things about Cassidy:

¦Extremely self-conscious, she had little interest in pursuing a professional career in art or music, preferring to surround herself with supportive friends who served as her advocates. She had few possessions and modest goals, sometimes she spoke of wanting to live in a cottage by the ocean, and no sense of money. She didn’t have a checking account until she was 30, and worried that material success would threaten her identity.

¦Battling the melanoma that took her life at 33, she told her mother “All I want to do when I get well is sing and travel around with my music” She was attracted to songs that express profound themes (love, loss, transcendence, redemption) drawn from a diversity of musical traditions which she transforms into haunting personal statements.

¦But even more impressive than her musicianship is the sheer, heartfelt emotion she conveys, cutting to the core of feelings all of us experience but can only stumblingly articulate.

Receptivity

This series of the inner mind opens appropriately, I think, with the subject of emotion. On some days do you feel that your mind is rather cold and uncaring, business-like and tending only to things on the surface? Well, scratch the surface. Find that well of emotions to draw you close to all that matters in this world – the beauty, the love, the connections and the relationships. There, just below the cerebral layer of your brain, is the richness of color and the depth of perception – the perspective of spirit.

Day 20 Guide

Don’t wait for injury to reveal your inner mind of emotion. But learn to call on your emotions at will in order to recognize life’s more important things — things of beauty and love. Today, listen to great music, paying close attention to lyrics that call on greater things.